1971 Vienna-Schwechat Airport aircraft collision
Swissair Douglas DC-9-32 and Private Beechcraft C55 Baron · Ground collision
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 74
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Aircraft 1 · Douglas DC-9-32
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-9
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- HB-IFR
- Operator
- Swissair
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Vienna International Airport (VIE)To Zürich Airport (ZRH)
Aircraft 2 · Beechcraft C55 Baron
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 55
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- HB-GCY
- Operator
- private
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Vienna International Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1971 aircraft collision at Vienna-Schwechat Airport occurred on 26 December 1971 when, in dense fog at Vienna-Schwechat Airport, a departing Douglas DC-9-32, which was to operate a scheduled flight to Zurich-Kloten Airport, collided with the Beechcraft C55 Baron of a private Swiss owner, whose pilot had accidentally taxied onto the Douglas's runway in the fog. The pilot of the Baron was killed in the accident; the pilots of the DC-9 were able to stop their aircraft before the end of the runway.
Accident sequence
The pilots of the Swissair Douglas DC-9 were carrying out the take-off run from Vienna-Schwechat Airport early in the morning in dense fog when they suddenly and unexpectedly collided with a Beechcraft Baron. The DC-9's right wing struck the Beechcraft's cockpit, killing the pilot. During the subsequent rejected take-off, the DC-9's nose wheel broke and the torn right wing caught fire. The DC-9 came to a stop after around 200 metres with a broken nose landing gear and a burning right wing. The 76 passengers and five crew members on board the Swissair aircraft were uninjured.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigation found that the Baron had been on the runway without authorisation at the time of the accident.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugzeugkollision am Flughafen Wien-Schwechat 1971” (revision 239092508, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugzeugkollision am Flughafen Wien-Schwechat 1971
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 239092508 · 2023-11-13 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q121547984
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- de Wikipedia article "Flugzeugkollision am Flughafen Wien-Schwechat 1971" (page 12780661, revision 239092508), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata code, OurAirports)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- "scheduled flight" in the article's opening paragraph
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.